III. Definition and Rationale for Partnerships

What do we mean by "partnerships"?
The way that we understand and interpret language significantly impacts our interactions with each other. Hord (in Mawhinney 1993) warns that conflict among collaborative stakeholders can occur because of differences in how we define and understand cooperation, coordination, and other linkages between agencies (33).

For the purposes of this manual, therefore, we have used the following definition of partnership, and of other key terms:

partnership - encompasses a broad number of types of relationships. It is "an undertaking to do something together…, a relationship that consists of shared and/or compatible objectives and an acknowledged distribution of specific roles and responsibilities among the participants which can be formal, contractual, or voluntary, between two or more parties" (Partnership Resource Kit 1995). The types of partnerships discussed later in this chapter are funding and sponsorship, cooperation, coordination, and collaboration.

community - a group of people bound together through mutual interest and sense of shared destiny. The "boundaries" can be geographical (like a neighborhood, town, city, or region) or non-geographical (such as an interest group dispersed across the province, a workplace, business organization or professional association) (Government of Saskatchewan 1994).

family - families have many different forms and can be defined as any combination of two or more persons bound together by ties of mutual consent, birth and/or adoption. Families together share responsibility for some or all of the following: physical maintenance, care, and nurturance of family members; addition of new family members through birth or adoption; and socialization of children.

Types of partnerships
"Partnership," then, is a broad term that includes many different types of relationships. It's important to consider what types of partnerships you are looking for, and which are available.